Animal Planet: Animals on the Move by Dorothea DePrisco. Animal Bites series. 80 p. Liberty Street/ Time Inc. Books, March, 2017. 9781618931795. (Review from finished copy courtesy of publisher.)
Children who love animal facts will love this over-size, colorful volume. Animals move in a variety of ways and speeds. There's plenty of full-color photos of animals in action as well as supplementary information about habitat, maps, facts and figures all attractively designed.
Happy Friday Summer Readers! Our Fact Friday feature is an oversized visual feast for the eyes.
Animal Planet: Strange, Unusual, Gross & Cool Animals by Charles Ghigna. 128 p. Liberty Street/ Time Inc. Books, October, 2016.
This book is absolutely gorgeous and crammed with trivia about tons of animals, many I have never heard of before! Sure, we've got our blobfish and our naked mole rat; but I never heard nor saw the likes of the red-lipped batfish or the frilled shark or the thorny dragon, and many more fascinating creatures. The photos are gorgeous, up-close-and-personal, like the one of the rare Philippine eagle, that has a wingspan of over 7 feet! Check it out!
Sports Illustrated Kids: Hockey Then to Wow! by the Editors of Sports Illustrated Kids. 80 p. Then to Wow series. Liberty Street/ Time Inc. Books, September 26, 2017. 9781683300113. (Review from finished copy courtesy of publisher)
The NHL turns 100 this year and SI Kids knows how to celebrate! This third installment of the Then to Wow series is sure to please fans of the sport and invite new young fans. It is as attractively designed as the previous installments the last being, Baseball Then to Wow! with its embossed cover featuring a line-up of famous players from eight decades.
The end-pages are decorated with a top-down view of a hockey rink. As in Baseball, there are four chapters and the first two cover the basics and the players, the third is called, Face Off and covers coaches, strategies, global games, units, records, women's hockey, goals, dynasties and the Stanley Cup. The final chapter, Fan Fun covers things like play-off beards, video games, fan fashion, cards and stories about the items fans have taken to throwing "over the boards," which happens to be against the rules.
It's interesting to note that while the first rules for hockey were published by The Montreal Gazette in 1877, as noted in the timeline, there is no mention on it (or anywhere else in the book) about the formation of the NHL, except to say that in 1918, the NHL added two blue lines on the ice.
There's plenty to goggle over as double-page spreads show the evolution of the sports equipment (current skates can cost over $1000!) through the sweaters, the sticks and the arenas. The goalie pads are particularly interesting in that they now resemble body armor rather than mattress padding.
Hockey Then to Wow! is a great addition to any collection!
SI Kids: My First Book of Soccer. By Beth Bugler and Mark Bechtel. Illustrated by Bill Hinds. A Rookie Book. 48 p. Liberty Street/ Time Inc. Books, May 16, 2017. 9781683300021. (Review from finished copy courtesy of publisher.)
This colorful fourth entry in the Rookie Book series joins older siblings, My First Book of Football, My First Book of Hockey and My First Book of Baseball. It's attractively designed featuring a cartoon girl and boy providing commentary and humorous asides. Hilariously, the boy runs onto the title page in a football uniform despite the fact that the hip girl explains on the front end-pages, the fact that soccer is called football all over the world except the U.S. A. The basic rules are explained using real men's and women's soccer teams and players in posed and action shots to illustrate the concepts.
The background pages are brightly colored, the fonts are varied, fairly large and prone to exuberance. The layout is the same as the other books framing the sections by soccer halves and counting the time down as explanations range from field layout through positions and skills like dribbling, tackling, passing, etc.
This is another fabulous, kid-friendly introduction to a sport. Perfect for newbies, oldbies, gym teachers, coaches and parents alike. Collect all these for any school or public library collection.
Animal Planet Adventures is a new chapter book series that incorporates non-fiction into a novel that revolves around a pair of children and animals. Two titles kick the series off. I received these courtesy of the publisher and read them aloud to a fifth grade class.
Dolphin Rescue by Catherine Nichols. Illustrated by Bryan Langdo. 112 p. Liberty Street/ Time Inc. Books, February, 2017. 9781618931696.
Siblings Mattie and Atticus live with their fisherman father near the ocean. Their cousin Zach and his dog, Norville are visiting for the summer. Maddie volunteers at the local aquarium and she and her brother are upset about the recent rashes of garbage dumping around their small, close-knit community. One day, the two spy a pod of dolphins that seemed to be in distress. They were circling a young dolphin who was in trouble. It had become entangled in some netting that had been dumped along with other trash. After they free the dolphin, Maddie and Atticus are determined to find the culprit.
Farm Friends Escape! by Gail Herman. Illustrated by Bryan Langdo. 112 p. Liberty Street/ Time Inc. Books, February, 2017. 9781618931680.
Eleven-year-old cousins, Luke and Sarah look forward to spending a good part of each summer at their grandparents' farm in Maine. They get along pretty well despite the fact that Sarah veers toward seriousness and Luke's a joker. This year, they arrive to find that they are responsible for running the petting zoo this year. It's a big responsibility that Luke doesn't take as seriously as Sarah. The two notice a boy lurking about but they are unable to find out who he is and why he's always watching. When the animals escape, the children put their heads together to find them and the boy becomes the prime suspect.
Both books feature relatable, likable boys and girls who love animals and care for the environment. The books are attractively designed, feature a nice font size and generous white space. Drawn illustrations depict the story and full-color photographs are inserted sporadically to provide information related to sea life in Dolphin Rescue and farm animals in Farm Friends Escape. The mysteries in each are engaging and mildly suspenseful with fun twists as the solutions are revealed. My only dilemma as the person reading these aloud was when to interrupt the story to share the information.
My students listened eagerly and gave each thumbs up. They are interested in reading more in the series. The next two installments are due out in September. These are Puppy Riddle Rescue and Zoo Camp Puzzle. Recommended for readers between grades 2/3 - 5.
My First Book of Hockey by the Editors of SIKids. A Rookie Book. 48 p. Liberty Street/ Time Inc. Books, September 20, 2016. 9781618931771. (Review from finished copy courtesy of publisher.)
My First Book of Hockey is the third in the Rookie Book series and the second of which I've read. I enjoyed My First Book of Baseball, so when I opened the package containing My First Book of Hockey, I was psyched, especially because I know very little about the game.
As in My First Book of Baseball, a young player provides color commentary starting on the end-papers as he suits up. Design and organization are similar in that each section is color coded and corresponds to the period of play. Full-color photographs, often accompanied by humorous speech bubbles, of a variety of teams and players (not identified) illustrate positions, equipment, shots, etc. Fundamental terminology, such as face-off, pass, check and icing are explained.
Quite a few action shots are highlighted with helpful arrows such as the physics of a slap shot or the split-second dynamics of a rebound.
This series is sure to be popular among young fans as well as would-be fans. Entertaining as well as educational. Surely every collection needs this series.
